Dive Brief:

• Stress is forcing employees to seek new careers for relief, Florida TV station WFTS reports.
• According to WFTS, Gallup numbers show 67% of employees are disengaged at work, 78% are unclear about their career direction and 79% say management isn’t motivating them.
• Karin Hurt, CEO of Let's Grow Leaders, recommends that workers take a 10-minute daily walk and think about what’s important to them to minimize stress.

Dive Insight:

It's not always clear whether stress causes disengagement among employees or if disengagement causes them to feel stressed. But employers should look for stress symptoms in workers and train managers — the front-liners  —  to recognize when employees are under severe duress. External symptoms of stress often include high absenteeism, chronic lateness, excessive use of sick time. lower productivity and deteriorating relationships with coworkers. But employers should watch for less obvious signs as well. 

Employers also must ensure they have clearly outlined paths of growth in the company, or else employees could feel stagnated and unhappy. Learning and development programs can be a strong part of this, even if there are few vertical pathways at your company. 

Frequent check-ins with employees are critical to catching early warning signs of both high stress levels and employee dissatisfaction.